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An innovative Lincolnshire business is celebrating its role in helping international drinks giant Coca-Cola become greener.

Clean Tech UK, in Hemswell, specialises in turning old plastic bottles into plastic pellets, which can be used to make new bottles.

Its parent company Plastipak is the only business in the UK which produces food grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) from used containers. It is the biggest producer of recycled plastic for bottles in Europe.

Five years ago, Plastipak signed a deal with Coca-Cola European Partners, which saw millions of pounds invested in expanding the site, north of Lincoln.

Since then, Coca-Cola has been able to use 25 per cent recycled plastic in every bottle and has reused 50,000 tonnes of plastic from around two billion bottles.

Inside the recycling facility

The site now employs 150 people and helped Coca-Cola, a sponsor and supplier to London 2012 Summer Olympics, to fulfil its pledge of supporting the most sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games possible.

At its site in Lincolnshire, Clean Tech granulises the bales, sorts out the Pet from other plastic which might have contaminated the bale, turns it into new plastic pellets of recycled Pet and puts it through a process to make it safe to be used for drinks.

Bales are then sold to companies – including Coca-Cola – who use it to make new bottles.

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Through the Clean Tech site, CCEP has so far reused materials from some two billion PET bottles and reached its goal of using 25 per cent rPET in all its bottles since 2012.

Nick Brown, Head of Sustainability at CCEP, said: “Five years ago we made a significant investment as part of our long-term commitment to transforming British recycling.

"The expansion of this facility was a landmark moment, not only in allowing CCEP to meet targets for rPET content in our packaging, but also in supporting the growth of a domestic system that helped to close the loop in GB plastic bottle reprocessing.

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"There have been learnings along the way, but as an industry first, we’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve to date through our partnership with Clean Tech, not least because it demonstrates the vast potential to others across the manufacturing sector."

“We are confident that the progress evident in GB over the last ten years – having moved from a limited collection of plastic bottles to six out of every 10 now being recycled – indicates a positive outlook for the future."

Lincolnshire business news

Martin Hargreaves, Managing Director at Plastipak Europe, said: “Plastipak, through its subsidiary Clean Tech, is committed to UK PET plastic recycling and our close relationship with CCEP. As a global packaging producer, Plastipak embraces its responsibility towards the environment, demonstrated by our continued investment to further increase both the output and quality of our recycled material at Hemswell.”